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From shy nurse to blushing bride

School nurse and local wallflower Flora Loveday would rather spend time with her pupils than even think about datinguntil smoking-hot firefighter Tom Nicholson enters her life . But Tom's interest in her is just because she's put a smile on his troubled young nephew's faceisn't it?

While Flora's bond with little Joey is invaluable, Tom has to admit he wants her around for other reasons. Flora has a beauty strangely overlooked by others, but Tom's going to awaken the passion she tries desperately to hide .

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Kate Hardy's Bio

Kate lives just outside Norwich in the east of England with her husband, small son and daughter and two mad spaniels.

She's always loved books and could read before she went to school. She always knew that she wanted to be a writer, and her parents bought her a proper typewriter for her sixth birthday. (She's still a six-finger typist, though….) Her first stories were all about ponies or outer space, but then she discovered Mills & Boon when she was 12 and decided this was what she wanted to do.

Following a degree in English, Kate started work as an accountant, and hated every second of it! All the clients asked why she wasn't working in PR—so she went into marketing communications for the next 10 years. In between studying for two sets of professional exams, Kate continued to write short stories and novels. And her husband supported her every step of the way, even buying her first computer for her!

When Kate's son, Chris, was born in 1997, she decided to go freelance so she could spend time with her baby. She became a health journalist and copy editor but never lost her love of romance. When Kate was pregnant with her daughter, her husband suggested combining her two loves by writing medical romances. Kate started reading them and was instantly hooked. (She claims they were her craving when she was pregnant!)

At six weeks old, Chloë spent her first Christmas in the hospital with bronchiolitis. The only way Kate could cope was to pretend it was happening to someone else—so she started writing A Baby of Her Own in longhand at Chloë's bedside. Her agent liked the first three chapters. So did Mills & Boon. The final manuscript was accepted on Chloë's first birthday, and published on Chloë's second birthday.

When she isn't writing medical romances or health articles, looking after the children or raising funds for Chris's school and cancer research, Kate enjoys relaxing with the family—going to the beach, playing games, reading stories and watching films. She also loves cooking (but not the dieting that goes with it) and she reads a lot. She'd quite like to try rappelling, parascending and scuba diving, but as she's terribly clumsy, she thinks it's much safer to let her heroines do it for her….

You can email Kate at the following address: kate.hardy@btinternet.com.